Bob Dylan and the worst thing about turning 80: “The world moves without asking”
With decades of music history in the rearview, Bob Dylan has recently shared the ups and downs that come with turning 80.
Having surpassed his eight decade around the sun in 2021, Dylan has left pieces of musical history on every single one of his albums. Despite being known as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, every single decade has seen him refuse to rest on his laurels and make the kind of music that reflected how he was feeling at the moment.
Now in recent conversation with The New York Times, Dylan has reflected on what it feels like to turn 80. When asked about the milestone as President Donald Trump is turning 80, Dylan has said that the worst part about reaching that goal is that he still wants to do anything and everything that can during the time he has on the planet.
The lyricist said: “The worst thing about turning 80 is that you still want to say yes to everything, but the world moves without asking. The old fire in your heart tells you to do this and that, but your body says we already did it.” Being a part of so many pieces of history, Dylan also said that he isn’t as surprised by anything anymore, saying, “People treat you like you’ve solved something or you’ve lost something, and you haven’t.”
Of course, the major problem Dylan has with reaching that twilight-year milestone is seeing time in a different way, saying, “When you’re young you think that time moves forward. At 80 you know that it doesn’t, it stands still. We’re the ones that move.” And Dylan has certainly spent his years trying to move forward in whatever he could.
His album Rough and Rowdy Ways featured the song ‘Murder Most Foul’, which was praised by other wordsmiths like PJ Harvey as being one of the greatest tunes that he ever made. That said, it’s not like Dylan was completely dour about what life was like after being the voice of his generation.
If anything, he was happy to have been able to make it as far as he has during his career, saying, “You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country. You’re harder to program. You’re not rushing to become anything and you’re not haunted by the things that you did. You’re haunted by how little of it really mattered.”
And that kind of forward-thinking attitude is still with Dylan as he set out on his latest tour. The Never Ending still has no end in sight, and Dylan is adamant about crisscrossing his way across the US throughout this summer.
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